Unexpected Consequences
by QueenCate
Summary: One of two written for a 'what if' challenge. What if Meg had told Duncan? How could that simple act lead to such a tragedy?
1. It feels like the end of the world

Veronica absently poked at her pasta salad with a plastic fork, her attention focused on a table across the quad, more specifically on Duncan and Meg. She found herself doing this much too often for her liking. Her mind wandered, searching out the memory she had tried so desperately to repress.

"_Meg's pregnant."_

_Veronica's head shot up. She studied his face carefully, taking in the dozens of wrinkles that seemed to have appeared on it overnight. "You're serious."_

_He nodded, reaching out and taking her hand in his own._

"_How – how far along is she?" Veronica forced her herself to ask, her voice coming out as a croak._

"_Five months." Off Veronica's dubious look, he hastily added, "I swear, Veronica. I didn't cheat on you."_

_Veronica nodded. She believed him. She had to believe him. "We'll get through this," she promised him._

_Duncan didn't respond. She knew he tended to be the silent type, but she had expected at least a 'yeah' or an 'of course, Veronica.'_

"_Duncan?" she asked tentatively, staring at him until he finally lifted his gaze to meet hers and she saw it in his eyes, knew what was coming. He burst into tears, pulling her close. She hugged him tight and tears leaked out of her own eyes._

"_I'm sorry, Veronica," he sobbed into her shoulder as she made comforting shushing noises. "I'm so, so sorry."_

"_I understand, Duncan. It'll be okay. It will," she added, more to comfort herself than him._

"Yo, space cadet! Snap outta it."

Veronica tore her gaze away from her ex and smiled at her best friend. "Hey, what's shakin', bacon?"

"I aced my U.S. History exam," he told her with a grin.

Veronica's mouth formed an 'O' and she placed her hand over it in mock surprise. "You? Ace an exam? But I thought you were a homeboy, Wallace. Homeboys don't study!"

"It's called skills, V."

"Oh, of course. Silly me."

"So, what time are you getting back from that field trip tomorrow?" he asked as he unpacked his lunch. "I thought maybe you could come to the game, you know, since you're the reason I'm playing."

"Actually, I'm not going on the field trip," Veronica told him, sneaking a glance over at Duncan and Meg. No way was she going to force herself to spend six hours in their company.

"Why…" his voice trailed off as he followed her gaze and sighed. "Damn, V, this really sucks. If wasn't for such a good reason, I'd kick his ass."

Veronica sighed. "I know the feeling." Then, to change the subject, she gasped loudly and reached her hand into Wallace lunch bag. "Is this a pudding cup?"

Wallace snatched it back, blushing slightly. "Yeah, momforgets I'm not five anymore."

Veronica grinned. "I think it's sweet. Wallace and his pudding cup," she added, sounding as if she was talking to a baby.

Wallace turned and tossed the pudding cup into a nearby garbage can.

"Nice shot, Fennel," Veronica congratulated him. "Bet the team is glad you're back." Logan walked past the table, brushingagainst her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small white square drop into her bag. She waited a minute until Wallace was distracted before unfolding the note in her lap and scanning it quickly.

"Wallace, I gotta go to the little girls' room and then I'm off to do some investigating. Call you later?"

"Yeah, talk to ya later, V."

---x---

_Later that day_

"Meg!" Lizzie skidded to a stop just outside her sister's door.

Meg looked up in annoyance. "What is it, Lizzie? I'm not feeling well."

"Just come downstairs. There's something on the news you should see," Lizzie ordered.

Meg sighed but obeyed. She could tell something was wrong. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she followed the sound of the television to the living room. "What's so important?"

"Shh, just watch!"

Meg flopped onto the couch and glanced at the TV. Her eyes grew wide and she sat forward. The headline read "Neptune High Teen Commits Suicide."

The news anchor looked grim as he said, "Now, if you're just tuning in, we recently learned the identity the Neptune High student that died when her car went over a cliff earlier this afternoon." Veronica's yearbook picture appeared on the screen. Meg cried out and her hand flew to her mouth.

The news anchor continued, "Police have identified the driver as Veronica Mars, daughter of former Balboa County Sheriff Keith Mars who is known for solving the murder of Lilly Kane, daughter of streaming video pioneer Jake Kane.

Meg heard her sister calling her name, but it sounded distant and unreal. Her vision grew blurry and she slumped back against the couch. The last thing she heard was Lizzie yelling, "Grace, go get Mom."

---x---

Meg's eyes fluttered open and she blinked to clear her vision. Duncan's concerned face hovered above her. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back. "How're you feeling?"

Her hand instinctively reached up and touched her growing stomach. "I'm okay. Is the baby all right?"

Duncan smiled. "She's perfect."

Meg tried to smile but couldn't. Something was wrong. It came back in a flash that tore her heart in half. Veronica was dead. "Duncan, have you…did you see…?"

Duncan nodded, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I saw it on the news."

"It just can't be true," she said softly, remembering her friend. Veronica was a fighter. She had been through too much to give up now. There was no way Veronica killed herself and she told Duncan as much.

"I know," he said. "It's hard to believe she would do this, but you never know. Maybe she just got tired of fighting. Maybe it all got to be too much."

"Duncan, that's a load of crap and you know it!" Meg yelled. "I'm going to find out what really happened to her, whether you want to help me or not."

"Meg, no. Veronica killed herself. There is nothing we can do for her. And I won't allow you to put our baby in danger just to prove some crazy theory."

"Get out," she told him firmly.

"Meg…"

"I said get out!" she screamed.

Duncan threw up his hands and backed out of the room, leaving Meg to speculate on how to go about solving the murder of Veronica Mars.

---x---

Six months later, Meg told Duncan that she intended to solve Veronica's murder and there was nothing he could do to stop her, now that their daughter, Lillian Faith, had been born. Duncan had protested, of course, claiming that she was crazy. But that didn't deter Meg from her mission. It consumed her, kept her steady during the painful months following Veronica's death. On the surface, everyone accepted the suicide explanation, but how many of those who believed it actually knew Veronica Mars? So Meg had spent the last few weeks sounding out those who had known Veronica and found most of them didn't buy the police's suicide ruling. Wallace Fennel, obviously. Mac Mackenzie and Logan Echolls, Cassidy and, surprisingly enough, Dick Casablancas. She suspected that many more, Duncan included, felt the same way but for one reason or another wouldn't admit it. Maybe it was fear of Veronica's murderer, or, as in Duncan's case, denial. Before her friendship with Veronica had fallen apart, Meg had often asked about Veronica's cases and how she solved them. Veronica had been more than happy to explain some of the more common methods of investigation, especially during those awkward times when Duncan accompanied Meg. Unfortunately, none of those would help her get her investigation going. For all her fervor and determination, she had no clue what to do.

She needed help. Duncan was obviously out of the question. He wouldn't have been much help, anyway, being just as clueless as herself about Veronica's P.I. life. There was no way she could go to Keith Mars. Veronica's death had devastated him. It was the last straw. Two months after she died, he finally gave up and left town. There was one person that she knew Veronica relied on more than anyone, including her father.

"Wallace, hi."

Wallace looked up and Meg's breath caught in her chest. His heartbreak and utter despair was reflected in his deep brown eyes. "Hey, Meg," he answered despondently.

"Can I sit down?" she asked tentatively.

He nodded, staring back down at his pudding cup. For whatever reason, the packaged dessert seemed to depress him.

"She didn't kill herself," he said softly after several awkwardly silent minutes. "You know she didn't."

Meg nodded. "I do know that. I'm going to find out what really happened."

That got Wallace attention away from his pudding cup.

"I waited until the baby was born." She glanced across the quad at the 09'er table. "Duncan thinks I'm insane," she said with a humorless laugh.

A warm hand closed over her own. Meg looked back at Wallace and was both surprised and comforted to see a shadow of that trademark grin upon his face. "Join the club," he said softly. He surveyed her, realizing her resolve. "You're serious about this."

Meg nodded.

Logan took a seat next to Wallace. "Hey, Meg. Would you mind giving Wallace and me a minute? I need to talk to him about something."

"Meg's with us now, Logan."

Logan looked slightly taken aback, but not completely surprised, for whatever reason. He recovered quickly and studied Meg for a moment. "You sure you can handle it?"

"I gave birth to a nine pound baby. I can handle this."

Logan nodded. "Okay, then. Meet us after school. We've got a lot of work to do."


	2. But the world just keeps spinning

He hated that Meg was working with them. She reminded him too much of Veronica, during that transitory period between Angelic Veronica and Hard-Ass Veronica when she was no longer the sweet, quiet girl everyone liked but not the hardened outsider yet. It was the long blond hair that really did it, so much like Veronica's, though he doubted Meg would shear her long locks the way Veronica did. She hadn't changed that much and she wasn't Veronica, as much as she recalled images and memories of her. And that was a good thing. He would begin to resent Meg if she became too much like Veronica, possibly even get them mixed up, Veronica's specter melding with Meg's living, breathing self. And that would not be good, not at all. He had to keep them separate in his mind, for all of their sanity and for the sake of avenging Veronica. In order to do this, he avoided Meg as much as possible, preferring to relay information and the like to through Wallace. He knew Wallace understood and possibly even envied him for having found a way to the two separate, each her own person, but even the most patient of people snapped, especially when that patience was tempered by grief.

"Logan, man, you gotta stop this. If we're gonna track down Veronica's killer, we need to work together. _All_ of us," he added, when Logan opened his mouth to retort. Then his face softened and he said, "She reminds me of Veronica, too. But she's not Veronica and she isn't trying to be. You gotta get over this. It's hard, but what did you expect? Just deal with it. We owe Veronica at least this much."

"You done?" Logan asked, a bored expression coloring his face.

"Yeah," Wallace answered shortly with a slight shake of his head. "I'm done."

"Good. I was starting wonder whether I should slap you or just order pizza and wait it out."

Wallace tensed, but he said nothing, just waited for Logan to explain what he had found. He had been doing this a lot, restraining himself from punching the smug 09'er in the mouth. He had taken Veronica's death hard, perhaps harder than most people, himself included. Wallace figured that Veronica's death was just the last tragedy, the one that caused him to fully retreat inside himself and hide behind this insolent, sarcastic façade. And lucky him, he was the one who spent the most time around Logan and therefore bore the brunt of his disguised anger. At first he resented Logan for being able to hide from his pain but now, by dealing with Logan's head-in-ass attitude and searching for clues that would help bring his best friend's murderer to justice, he had found a similar sort of stasis, staving off the pain and tears by doing everything within his power to not think about Veronica, except when it was absolutely necessary to the investigation.

Logan smirked. "You shouldn't frown like that, Wally. You'll get wrinkles."

"Just get on with it, Echolls," Wallace snapped. Then again, sometimes you could only stand so much Logan Echolls without getting angry.

"I am, Wally boy. Just cool it, all right?" Logan waited for a second and when Wallace said nothing, cooed, "Good boy. Now, when I saw biker boy get off the bus this morning looking like an _Outsiders_ extra, I figured something went down with the PCHers. After some expert finagling, I got good ol' Paco to spill it. Turns out the whole gang is mixed up with the Fitzpatricks and Thumper's their new leader. Call me crazy, but I think it's too much of a coincidence that Weevil's right hand is murdered only a few months before Weevil gets ousted from the gang. Don't you agree?" It took all of Logan's self-control to keep his face blank as he mentioned the Fitzpatricks and Felix's murder. In Logan's mind, if Veronica hadn't been secretly helping him prove his innocence, she would have never been near that cliff and wouldn't have died.

"_This better be good, Logan. You're ruining my lunch, you know."_

_Logan shot her a look and, with a roll of her eyes and a muttered "drama queen," she quieted down._

"_Weevil and I have been working together to find out who killed really Felix and we think his boys are mixed up with the Fighting Fitzpatricks. You heard of them?"_

_Veronica nodded slowly. "Yeah, my dad put, like, five of them in Chino…" Her eyes widened and her mouth curled up at the corners. "I've gotta run. Light bulb moment." She turned and almost sprinted out the door, turning back only to call, "I'll fill you in later."_

_Logan watched her go. "Yeah, see you then," he said softly to her retreating back. A chill ran through his spine and he stood upright, casting a wary glance around the small bathroom. Satisfied he wasn't about to be jumped by someone like an angry PCHer, he wrote it off as a shiver and strode boldly out of the bathroom, smirking at the stunned girls about to enter. One thing was certain: he couldn't wait until Veronica told him what she had figured out._

_Four hours later, he turned on news only to discover that his world had come to a screeching halt for a third time._

The sound of Wallace's voice brought Logan back down to earth. "Yeah, let's get Meg and check it out."

"Not so fast, Sherlock. I don't think taking Meg with us is a good idea."

Wallace clenched his fist. "Do I have to give you my spectacular 'get over it' speech again? Because I really don't feel like it."

"Aw, and it was so much fun the first time around! Think about it, Wally. We can't bring Meg with us because she's a pretty little girl, these guys are hardened criminals and I, for one, have had more than enough funerals for one lifetime."

Wallace sighed. "Stop calling me Wally. And you're right, something I'm sure you're unaccustomed to."

Logan shook his own hand in midair, as if it was on fire. "Ouch, burn. Score one for Wally. Oh wait, that's right, we're not in fourth grade anymore."

"Hey, Logan, how 'bout you just shut up for once in your life?"

Logan put of a confused look. "But what fun would that be?"

"You know what? I'll see you after school." Wallace turned and walked away before he did something stupid, like punching Logan in front of his 09er buddies. And Meg. She would kill them if she heard they were fighting. He wouldn't allow himself to swell on how Veronica-esque that was. Instead, he made a mental note to ask Meg to look of Veronica's files on the Fitzpatricks once that had some new information. She would be plenty angry that they left her behind for this, so he had make sure he had an assignment ready for her. That and he just didn't want to look at those files again. Although, the end result would probably be he and Logan doing the grunt work, searching through the files once again, while Meg sat back and watched _Gilmore Girls_.

Twenty minutes later, Logan's comment about "more than enough funerals" was still bouncing around in his head. It triggered memories he had tried hard to forget, but were now coming forth entirely unbidden.

"_Wallace," his mom said._

_He barely glanced up from his homework. "Hold on a sec, Moms."_

"_Wallace," his mom repeated, more urgently this time._

_He finally looked and felt his stomach sink at the look on her face. He couldn't bring himself to ask what she wanted. His mouth had dried out and his tongue wasn't cooperating._

"_You better come out here. There's something on the news you should see."_

_He forced the question out. "What happened? Mom, tell me what's wrong."_

_Alicia crossed the room and sat beside her son. "Wallace, its Veronica. She-she died this afternoon."_

"_No, you're lying. Why would you say something like that, Mom?" Wallace got to his feet. "It's probably just some other blonde girl from school. It can't be Veronica. I just saw her a few hours ago. She's supposed to call me in half an hour."_

_Wallace turned slowly walked out into the living room, regretting each step along the way. He had to see for himself, prove to his mother that she was wrong. He knew, even if he wouldn't admit it, that whatever he would see when he reached the living room would change his life and that he would want nothing more than to go back to how it was. But, of course, he soon stood in the living room. His mother led him to the couch and told him to sit._

"_No, Mom. It can't be that bad. She's not dead."_

_Her eyes told him that it clearly was, but he stubbornly refused to sit. A woman reporter filled the screen. "Now, if you're just tuning in, we recently learned the identity the Neptune High student that died when her car went over a cliff earlier this afternoon."_

_It's just some random student, Wallace told himself. But when that black and white yearbook photo appeared on screen, it told him the truth, the truth Wallace had known all along. Veronica was dead. The reporter went on to detail Veronica's connection to various Neptune VIPs but Wallace heard none of it. He dropped onto the couch next to his mother, hung his head and watched as a solitary tear leaked out of his eyes, trembled on the tip of his nose, and fell onto his fist with an inaudible splat._

_After several minutes of silence, Wallace turned to his mother, his eyes rimmed red. "I need to go to her house. Could you drive me there? I-I don't think I can." His mother look as if she was about to say something, but thought otherwise and nodded._

_Shortly after, Wallace stood outside Veronica's apartment. It would always be her apartment to him, even now. He couldn't summon the courage to knock. He knew that whatever he felt, it was magnified beyond numbers in Keith. As it turned out, he didn't have to knock. Keith had apparently been watching for him. He opened the door and after a short, awkward moment, pulled the teen into a tight embrace. And that when both finally allowed themselves to break down, right there for all the world to see._

-x-

_Wallace watched without interest as various people spoke about Veronica, how great she was, how everyone loved her. That was all a load of crap. Sure, if anyone had bothered to get to know her they would have loved her just as he did, but they didn't get to know her. They didn't know her, but they still gossiped about her and made her the butt of dozens of dumb jokes and turned their noses up at her. Wallace would give anything to get up there and tell the world about the real Veronica Mars. He would love to tell them how they first met, with her cutting him down off the flagpole, or how they bonded, over planting bongs and setting the Sheriff's office on fire. But he couldn't. Not only because that would be as good as handing the Sheriff a signed confession, but also because Veronica deserved better. She wouldn't care enough about these people who obviously didn't know her to justify herself to them. And he wouldn't do it, either. Logan, on the other hand, didn't agree. Wallace watched with a grim fascination as the other boy calmly walked up to the altar, dark sunglasses propped in front of his eyes, and began speaking._

"_What can you say about Veronica Mars? First off, all the stuff about her being loved by everyone is crap. Most of the people in this town hated her and she gave it right back to them. But despite that, when I think about Veronica Mars, one sentence comes to mind: to know her – really know her – is to love her. I can't think of a single person that bothered to get to know Veronica who didn't end up loving her. And in return, she would be the most loyal friend you could possibly imagine. God knows she's helped me out more than once. So when you walk out of here today, mourn for her, grieve for her, because losing her is the worst thing to ever happen to this town, but don't think you knew her. Because you didn't." Logan looked around, a shadow of his trademark smirk upon his lips as he listened to the growing buzz inside the church. "Thank you."_

_He turned and walked down the aisle. As he approached, Keith stood up, looked Logan in the eyes, and embraced him. And as they did, Wallace saw a single tear make its way down Logan's cheek and he smiled, noticing how strange it felt to be doing so. Logan, the public hatred of whom had reached an all-time high after Felix's murder, had done what Wallace could not: given Neptune a glimpse of the real Veronica Mars._

"Wallace," someone hissed.

His head whipped up.

"Wallace," the person repeated.

He glanced around. His gaze landed on Meg.

"Are you all right?" she asked, her concern evident.

He nodded vigorously, trying to convince himself that he was, in fact, all right. But the truth was he just didn't know anymore.


End file.
